Book 1: If Only Life was as Beautiful as it Seemed at First Sight
Summary After gathering Dark Dragon Saliva, Su Ming descends the mountain meeting up with Xiao Hong, who is carrying a strange black piece of debris. Xiao Hong wishes to trade the stone for some of the saliva, but Su Ming just gives the saliva for free yet receives the stone regardless. Examining it closer, it seems normal despite some strange patterns and a hole in the middle which makes it look like an accessory. Noticing a strange warmth entering his body whenever he touched the stone, Su Ming connects it to the Fire Berserker Tribe, a powerful tribe that fought and was sealed by the God of Berserkers. He decides to wear it as a necklace and returns to the tribe. Su Ming failed his first initiation towards becoming a Berserker and was destined to fail the second as well. Yet while inside the illusionary space created by attempting to connect with the statue of the God of Berserkers, the debris released a piercing light. The statue "cowered" in fear, Su Ming felt as if a barrier was broken inside his head and saw a strange vision of hundreds upon hundreds of men and Berserkers worshiping two powerful individuals. He noticed one of them was a man with purple hair. While he was gazing at him, the man met his gaze and expelled him from the seemingly illusionary world. Su Ming was wondering if he had seen an illusion and turned to bow towards the statue, so he could leave. However as he was lowering his back towards it, the statue started cracking as if it couldn't withstand him bowing. The Berserker cultivation method appeared in Su Ming's mind and he returned to his house while the other tribesmen were distracted by strange weather changes. A strange dream and a voice calling him "big brother" followed when he went to sleep. Time past as Su Ming immersed in solidifying his blood veins. The Dark Dragon Saliva he had been drinking up to now finally was able to manifest its real effects in helping him solidify more veins. Before his body started transforming similar to his clansmen, the debris again released a piercing light teleporting Su Ming to a strange space enveloped in mist where he could only see a mountain radiating an ancient feeling upon which strange drawings where carved. Entering it through a crack, Su Ming saw strange drawings of people refining herbs into pills and came up to a door where some herbs were drawn. Memories of a process called "quenching medical pills" flooded into his mind and he exited the space. He made use of the knowledge to create his first pill "Scattering Dust", which could increase the potency of other herbs eaten simultaneously. To earn coins, Su Ming journeyed to a trading square with Lei Chen in order to sell one of the pills. During his visit, Su Ming met a girl named Bai Ling, who Lei Chen had scammed into buying a painted leaf. Su Ming managed to fool the girl the leaf was a real herb and she left. After disguising himself and selling Scattering Dust, Su Ming left as well. Assisted by a strange Berserker in the Bone Sacrifice Realm, Bi Tu, the elder of Black Mountain Tribe, a tribe holding a long lasting enmity with Dark Mountain, made use of the Wings of the Moon, transformed souls of the Fire Berserkers, to break into the Awakened Realm. The event made the Blood Moon happen sooner than thought and Wings of the Moon came out of their lairs kidnapping people everywhere, one of which was Bai Ling. Su Ming, at the time unknowingly cultivating near one of the entrances of their lairs, took the opportunity of it being empty to enter in search of loot. While inside the lair, Su Ming came across a strange village, which while empty appeared far more refined compared to Dark Mountain or the other small tribes for that matter. The buildings at the edges of the village looked as if they were split apart, giving the village the appearance as if it had been cut from a bigger village and somehow moved inside the lair. In the center of the village was a big red tree. Searching Su Ming found a single mutated corpse with wings on its back, a mocking, prideful look in its face and its index finger pointed at a wall upon which a chant was written. Memorizing it, Su Ming decided to leave as the Wings of the Moon would soon return. However while escaping, he noticed one of them carrying Bai Ling. Saving her from being absorbed into the giant tree made the Wings of the Moon enraged, but only some of them could give chase to Su Ming which he managed to elude. He returned Bai Ling to her tribe and promised to visit again. Su Ming made use of the chant to start his cultivation of the Fire Berserker Tribe's Arts and receiving their inheritance. While Su Ming was growing more powerful, Mo Sang decided to take him and some other promising youths of the tribe to the competition held in the only medium tribe of the area, Wind Stream Tribe. In Wind Stream Tribe, Su Ming purchased an "imperfect" storage bag from an old man selling mostly counterfeit or useless goods and while disguised entered into the first stage of the competition, climbing Wind Stream Mountain. Under the pressure of the mountain and with Mo Sang's beforehand instructions, Su Ming managed to cultivate fine control of his blood veins, a technique mostly used by those in the Awakened Realm. Combining his own potential, power and the assistance of the moon's moonlight, gained by cultivating Fire Berserker Arts, Su Ming managed to tie with Ye Wang, the prodigy of Wind Stream Tribe, which earned him some blood drops from an Awakened Berserker of Wind Stream Tribe. Assisted by Su Ming's potential appealing to the leaders of Wind Stream, Mo Sang had also managed to reach a protection agreement for Dark Mountain Tribe, but only if they moved from Dark Mountain and merged with Wind Stream. Mo Sang understood that the return trip and moving the tribe would be filled with dangers, so he decided to seal Su Ming inside a building, who was determined to return, and left. Su Ming filled with worry and madness decided to risk it all and started eating as much herbs, drinking the blood droops and doing everything else he could to increase his own power and break free at the cost of suffering serious injuries. Wind Stream Tribe came under attack by the man who had helped Bi Tu break into Awakening and this gave Su Ming the opportunity to escape. Arriving at the tribe, Su Ming was shocked to find many of its buildings in ruins and signs of battle. Fortunately, Mo Sang and many of the tribesmen were still safe despite Black Mountain's attack. Dumbfounded by Su Ming's arrival, Mo Sang reluctantly allowed him to assist with the departure and protection during the trip, which proved to be very grueling. Black Mountain attacked many times, but despite having superior numbers were forced back by Dark Mountain's Berserkers and ordinary folk risking and sacrificing their lives in order to protect the tribe. Bi Tu soon arrived and began his fight with Mo Sang, who in spite of his inferior cultivation managed to fight the former to a standstill allowing the tribe to escape even though still chased by some Berserkers. After arriving at an open plain near Wind Stream, Su Ming, Lei Chen, Shan Hen and Nan Song, the most powerful Berserker of Dark Mountain besides Mo Sang, decided to stay behind in order to safeguard the rear. Bei Ling and some other injured Berserkers wanted to stay behind but Shan Hen forced them to move with the tribe. A little girl called Tong Tong told Su Ming she would tell him a secret after he returned to Wind Stream and then left with the tribe. Black Mountain's Berserkers soon arrived and a new battle began. Despite the fatigue, Dark Mountain seemed to have a chance at defeating their pursuers, but that changed with Shan Hen betraying Dark Mountain, stabbing Nan Song and escaping. At the brink of death, Nan Song used his most powerful technique at the cost of his life to scare Black Mountain's Berserkers and died. With Dark Mountain Tribe now safe, Lei Chen made an oath to become more powerful and decided to cross the mountains towards the supposed land of bigger tribes. Su Ming on the other hand decided to give chase to Black Mountain's Berserkers, which now tired and scared were easily eliminated. Arriving at the place where Mo Sang was battling Bi Tu, Su Ming feeling himself not powerful enough to interfere directly decided to put a plan he had thought of in action, burning his blood (practicing the Fire Berserker Arts) in order to gain the attention of the Wings of the Moon that had helped Bi Tu breakthrough into Awakening and make him unable to use their power. The plan succeeded and Bi Tu now fighting Mo Sang who was revealed to have two Berserker marks and a Wings of the Moon empowered Su Ming would soon be defeated, but before that happened the man dressed in black appeared. Being in the Bone Sacrifice Realm Su Ming and Mo Sang had no chance of defeating him. When all hope was lost, a strange small flag came out of Mo Sang's body. It rapidly expanded to cover the entire sky with the stars of another world. Mo Sang told Su Ming to remember them before a materialization of a formidable cultivator's will appeared. He was a middle-aged man with a face extremely similar to Su Ming's own. The man's power shattered space and created a void. Bi Tu was killed, the black robed man's cultivation dropped to the Awaken Realm and he with Mo Sang and Su Ming sucked into the void. Category:Books